1995 Bordeaux - California

S

Santiago 19 years ago

Hi,

Last thursday I was fortunate enough to attend a beautiful tasting that was held at Chateau Guiraud under the auspice of the Grand Jury Europeen. The tasting theme was California-Bordeaux 1995 and we faced 39 wines (plus a ringer) from both places. I will not write the full notes for a lack of time but I will pass the notes I gave the wines and the procedence I thought of each (B for Bordeaux, C for California, x if I was wrong):

1) Screaming Eagle 1995. 88 puntos. B.x
2) Harlan State 1995. 87 puntos. C.
3) Haut-Brion 1995. 89 puntos. C.x
4) Lafite 1995. 89. B.
5) Chateau Montelena 1995. 92 puntos. B.x
6) Araujo Vineyards 1995. 93 puntos. C.
7) Arrowood Special Reserve 1995. 93 puntos. C.
8] Petrus 1995. 92 puntos. B.
9) Chateau Latour 1995. 91 puntos.B.
10) La Jota 1995. 89 puntos. C
11) Shafer Hillside Select. 92. C.
12) Chateau Palmer 1995. 88. B.
13) Chateau Trottanoy 1995. 88. C.x
14) Mondavi Reserve 1995. 89. B.x
15) Haut-Condissas 1995. 91. B.
16) Pingus 1995. 90. Cx.
17) Abreu 1995. 98. B.x.
18] Chateau Margaux 1995. 89. C.x.
19) Valandraud 1995. 96. B
20) La Mission Haut-Brion 1995. 96. B.
21) Spottswood 1995. 94. C.
22) Spring Mountain 1995. 93. B.x.
23) Cheval Blanc 1995. 93. C.x.
24) Mouton Rothschild 1995. 91. B.
25) Diamond Creek 1995. 85. Ringer Italy.x
26) Behringer Private Reserve 1995. 89. B.x.
27) Montebello 1995. 85. C.
28] Staglin Family 1995. 90. B.x.
29) Le Bon Pasteur 1995. 90. C.x.
30) Dominus State 1995. 94. B.x.
31) Pahlmeyer Propietary Red 1995. 92. C.
32) Phelps Insignia 1995. 90. C.
33) Ausone 1995. 94. B.
34) Colgin State 1995. 91. C.
35) Cheval Blanc 1995. 94. B.
36) Pride Reserve 1995. 89. C.
37) La Croix de Labrie 1995. 87. B.
38] Tertre Roteboeuf 1995. 92. C.x
39) Leoville Las Cases 1995. 93. B.
40) Rollan de By 1995. 93. B.

Cheval Blanc was twice in two glasses and I had similar notes for both. Even the descriptors are similar. But once I thought Bordeaux and the other I thought California. Go figure.

The left bank Bordeaux, I found with tannins not round enough and this is why I think I did not score them higher.

A great tasting.

Santiago

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M

Mark Lipton 19 years ago

What a fantastic lineup, Santiago. The California Cabernets were certainly well represented, with Ridge, Ch. Montelena, Shafer, Phelps, Spottswoode and Diamond Creek all present. In fact, one could argue that Bordeaux was at a relative disadavantage since Latour wasn't present ;-) It's interesting to me to note that your top choice was Abreu, a CA producer I know only by reputation, followed by La Mission and Valandraud. So, your top three choices cover all of the represented genres: CA, Bdx and garagiste. You truly have catholic tastes.

Mark Lipton

p.s. If you can produce more extensive notes, it would be interesting to hear why you preferred the wines that you did.

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S

Santiago 19 years ago

I am replying to myself since my news-server is not showing other replies. It did in the morning, but not now. Oh, well.

Ed Rasimus wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The best score from the tasters was a 36 right, 4 wrong. So I got quite far from that. I suppose that my very limited experience with Californian wines put me in a relative disadvantage, but I am not complaining.

True. Great wines being done almost everywhere.

True. The Mondavi did pretty well in other tasters cards also. I cannot remember for the Behringer.

and the Montebello scoring so low

Wow. I have just find that I miscopied EIGHT (OUCH!= notes. This is the actual notes:

1) Screaming Eagle 1995. 88 puntos. B.x 2) Harlan State 1995. 87 puntos. C. 3) Haut-Brion 1995. 89 puntos. C.x 4) Lafite 1995. 89. B. 5) Chateau Montelena 1995. 92 puntos. B.x 6) Araujo Vineyards 1995. 93 puntos. C. 7) Arrowood Special Reserve 1995. 93 puntos. C. 8] Petrus 1995. 92 puntos. B. 9) Chateau Latour 1995. 91 puntos.B. 10) La Jota 1995. 89 puntos. C 11) Shafer Hillside Select. 92. C. 12) Chateau Palmer 1995. 88. B. 13) Chateau Trottanoy 1995. 88. C.x 14) Mondavi Reserve 1995. 89. B.x 15) Haut-Condissas 1995. 91. B. 16) Pingus 1995. 90. Cx. 17) Abreu 1995. 98. B.x. 18) Chateau Margaux 1995. 89. C.x. *19) Valandraud 1995. 95. B 20) La Mission Haut-Brion 1995. 96. B. 21) Spottswood 1995. 94. C. *22) Spring Mountain 1995. 95. B.x. 23) Cheval Blanc 1995. 93. C.x. 24) Mouton Rothschild 1995. 91. B. 25) Diamond Creek 1995. 85. Ringer Italy.x 26) Behringer Private Reserve 1995. 89. B.x. *27) Montebello 1995. 93. C. *28) Staglin Family 1995. 85. B.x. 29) Le Bon Pasteur 1995. 90. C.x. 30) Dominus State 1995. 94. B.x. 31) Pahlmeyer Propietary Red 1995. 92. C. 32) Phelps Insignia 1995. 90. C. 33) Ausone 1995. 94. B. 34) Colgin State 1995. 91. C. 35) Cheval Blanc 1995. 94. B. *36) Pride Reserve 1995. 93. C. *37) La Croix de Labrie 1995. 89. B. *38] Tertre Roteboeuf 1995. 87. C.x *39) Leoville Las Cases 1995. 92. B. 40) Rollan de By 1995. 93. B.

Sorry about the mistakes. I enjoyed Montebello a lot (93 is a good note for me). I wrote: Great nose with chocolate and new leather, very long and wide in the mouth. But penalized it for being a bit too sweet in the mouth. A bit drier and I would have ranked it 95 or 96.

Not meal. Only two hours to taste. I felt it was a bit sad to spit such an amount of good wine, but this is what this events are for.

Mark, my notes for my favorite wines were:

Abreu: nice new leather and black fruit in a balanced and intense nose. Great mouth with fruit, fined tannins and balance. A very slight touch of brett was not a defect to me because I thought it even added a bit of complexity. I scored 98 and the lack of sweetness, not feeling alcohol or balsamics, plus the touch of brett made me think of Pomerol. 98 points.

La Mission Haut Brion: good nose both intense and complex. balanced both in the nose and the mouth. Good tannins but a bit firm. 96 points.

Valandraud: Lots of great leather in a balanced nose and mouth with silky tannins. As the only defect, perhaps I would have preferred a bit more fruit to compensate the amount of leather and other non-fruit notes. 95 points.

SpringMountain: Beautiful violettes in a deep, intense, serious and direct nose. Great. Tannins a bit firmer than I would like. 95. This totally mislead me for a Saint Emilion.

As for the 94s:

Spottswood: intense nose with wonderful black fruit and raw meat, very fine grained tannins. A bit too sweet in my mouth, with alcohol a bit high. 94.

Dominus: Complex and deep nose, a little confisuing sweat odour and some ardient in the end of mouth, but anyway very balanced wine. 94. (now this tasting note does not make much sense with my score).

Ausone: Complex nose with plenty of fruit and tertiaries, long and complex with a great acidity. A bit more depth would have made it unforgettable.

Cheval Blanc: Great new leather, some truffles and wet earth notes in a very balanced nose. A little more fruit in the nose and the mid-palate would have made it even better. 94.

Santiago

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1995 Bordeaux - California

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